Here’s the line up of awesome guest speakers who will be imparting their advice and experience for you to digest, disagree with, get confused by, find interesting, and hopefully learn something from.

All of the people involved are very kindly giving up their time for free, and I can’t say how delighted and grateful I am that they’re all taking part because these are busy people with big workloads, so handing over two hours of their mid-week schedule is a bit of a chunk, so thank you very much to them all. Also, thanks to McGrattan’s for once again giving their upstairs room for free, I really appreciate it.

The sessions will all take place upstairs in McGrattan’s (it’s off Baggot Street, down the lane where the old Sunday Tribune office used to be, around the corner from Tesco and Doheny & Nesbitts) from 7pm until 9pm.

To take part in Dancing About Architecture, email me on irishjournalismATgmail.com so I can get an idea of numbers. First come, first serve.

February 21st
CRITIC SCHOOL
Jim Carroll (The Irish Times, and loads more)
Jim writes about music for the Irish Times, and also runs the massively popular and award-winning Irish Times blog On The Record. Jim also runs Banter, the Phantom radio show The Far Side, and was a co-founder of the Choice Music Prize. In addition to that, Jim co-founded the record label Lakota and the online music magazine Muse, back when the internet was a baby. As the most respected music journalist in the country, Jim has plenty to say (quickly) and acres of advice to give for your brains to plough.

Patrick Freyne (The Evening Herald)
Patrick won the Critic of the Year award at the 2011 National Newspapers of Ireland’s Journalism Awards, which gives him bragging rights over all other critics in the country and controversially allows him to graze sheep on the 3rd floor of Independent House. Patrick is an astounding TV reviewer and critic, formerly of the Sunday Tribune, and now with the Evening Herald.

February 28th
NEW-NEW JOURNALISM
Susan Daly (The Journal)
Susan is the editor of The Journal. She was previously a columnist and feature writer with the Irish Independent, and an assistant editor and deputy news editor at the Irish Daily Star. As the editor of Ireland’s fastest growing news website, her gig is at full throttle.

Niall Byrne (Nialler9, The Irish Independent)
Niall runs the multi-award-winning blog Nialler9, which is a go to point for music fans globally. His blog was voted the 5th best music blog in the world in a poll of music blogging peers. He is an editor at State magazine and a digital columnist for the Irish Independent’s Day & Night magazine. Niall’s knowledge of new music is scary. People learn from him.

Markham Nolan (Storyful)
Markham is the Director of Outreach at Storyful. He has written for the Sunday Business Post, the Irish Times, the Sunday Times and more, was the deputy editor of the Irish Echo, and in radio has worked for NPR and American Public Radio.

March 6thFEATURE WRITING AND COMMISSIONINGKathy Sheridan (The Irish Times)
Kathy won Feature Writer of the Year at the 2011 National Newspapers of Ireland Journalism Awards, confirming her position as the top feature writer in the country. A real journalist’s journalist, Kathy is also the person you’ll find many if not most working Irish print journalists citing as their favourite feature writer in the country. With Frank McDonald, she co-authored the brilliant book ‘The Builders: How a Small Group of Property Developers Fuelled the Building Boom and Transformed Ireland’. Another reason to like Kathy is that she is May-Kay from Fight Like Apes’ ma.

Shane Hegarty (The Irish Times)
Shane is the arts editor for the Irish Times. He also writes a weekly column for the paper. Shane wrote the awesome book ‘The Irish (and Other Foreigners)’ which you should read. He’s also part of the Science Gallery Leonardo Group, which is full of smart people (probably) planning to take over the world right now.

Nadine O’Regan (The Sunday Business Post, Phantom 105.2fm, and loads more)
Nadine is the books and arts editor for the Sunday Business Post. She also presents the excellent arts show The Kiosk on Phantom and is an arts reporter for RTE’s arts show The Works. Nadine has also written for Spin magazine, Hotpress, Magill, the Irish Times, the Irish Independent and loads more. She possesses a rather mystical ability to appear completely serene and refreshed at music festivals.

March 13thPOLITRICKS – THE TRICKS OF THE TRADE OF POLITICALREPORTING
Lise Hand (The Irish Independent)
Lise in her own words is a “former waitress turned stroppy hack.” Currently, she is a political opinion writer and reporter with the Irish Independent, and an all round deadly bird. She previously edited the Sunday Tribune magazine and has written for the New York Post.

Stephen Collins (The Irish Times)
One of the most respected and, indeed soundest journalists in the country, Stephen Collins is the political editor of the Irish Times. He was previously the political editor of the Sunday Tribune and of the Irish Press. He wrote the books ‘Breaking The Mould: How the PDs Changed Irish Politics’ and ‘People, Politics and Power: From O’Connell to Ahern’.

Shane Coleman (Newstalk)
Shane is the political editor of Newstalk and former political editor of the Sunday Tribune. He also presents the Sunday Show on Newstalk. Shane has written several books; ‘Foot In Mouth: Famous Irish Political Gaffes’ with Fintan Taite, ‘Up The Poll: Great Irish Election Stories’, and ‘The Dirty Dozen: 12 Scandals That Shaped the Nation’ and ‘Bertie Ahern and the Drumcondra Mafia’ with Mick Clifford. Shane is also the best dressed person in Irish journalism. Fact.

March 20th
HEY THERE SPORTS FANS – HOW TO BE A SPORTS REPORTERJacqui Hurley (RTE)
Jacqui co-presents Sunday Sport on RTE Radio 1, and also presents sports news across RTE radio and television. After working in the US for CBS Television, she worked for Live 95 in Limerick and then moved to RTE, where in 2009, still in her early 20s, she became RTE’s first ever female sports show presenter. She currently manages the Irish U-16 women’s basketball team and is a kick ass camogie player.

Miguel Delaney
Miguel is one of Ireland’s finest soccer writers, formerly of the Sunday Tribune, and currently writes for the Irish Examiner, the Irish Independent, ESPN and more. He has already checked if there’s a Champions League match on this night, and there thankfully is not. He wrote the book ‘Stuttgart To Saipan’. He also set up The Football Pantheon.